US citizen born in refugee camp sues to marry

Two weeks before their wedding, Viet “Victor” Anh Vo and his fiancee were stunned when a court clerk rejected their application for a marriage license because he couldn’t produce a birth certificate.

The couple had spent thousands of dollars on a wedding planner, a caterer, a florist, a disc jockey and a reception hall for 350 guests before they learned that a newly amended Louisiana law would block them from getting married.

The Republican legislator who sponsored January’s changes in the state’s marriage laws said it was designed to crack down on people using sham marriages to gain visas and citizenship.

Vo’s suit claims the law violates his constitutional rights and was intended to discriminate against foreign-born people.

[...] the amended law eliminated the waiver option for foreign-born applicants, whereas U.S.-born applicants who can’t produce a birth certificate are still eligible for judicial waivers.